Medical data (such as a medical diagnostic ultrasound image) can be generated by a diagnostic medical image acquisition device (such as an ultrasound imaging system), stored in digital form, and displayed on a diagnostic medical data review system (such as a computer). In addition to displaying the medical image, the review system can also execute medical reporting software that allows a reading physician or other clinical user to create an electronic medical report. A review system typically comprises a display subsystem, such as a graphics card and monitor, that is responsible for displaying medical data to a user. The review system is usually programmed to display medical data at a specific display resolution. While this display resolution may be preferred for some applications, it may not be desired when displaying some medical data. To address this problem, some review systems allow a user to explicitly configure the display subsystem to display medical data at a user-specified display resolution. However, physicians and other clinical users may not have the experience or the time to manually adjust the display resolution of the review system. Accordingly, medical data is often sub-optimally displayed.
There is a need, therefore, for a method and system for displaying medical data at an automatically-selected display resolution.
The present invention is defined by the following claims, and nothing in this section should be taken as a limitation on those claims.
By way of introduction, the preferred embodiments described below provide a method and system for displaying medical data at an automatically-selected display resolution. In one preferred embodiment, medical data is automatically analyzed, and based on the analysis, a display resolution is automatically selected. The medical data is then displayed with the automatically-selected display resolution. By automatically selecting a display resolution based on an analysis of medical data, the appearance of medical data is optimized without conscious effort by a user. Other preferred embodiments are provided.
The preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the attached drawings.